Clutch



March 24, 1936.

A. G. HERRESHOFF CLUTCH Filed Jan. 19, 1934 INVENTOR: i/ealio el' grreaev ATTORNEYS.

Patented Mar. 24, 1936 h 2 034 757 UNITED STATES PATENT, o Flcr.

oLu'rcn Application January 19, 1934, Serial No. 707,218

14 Claims. (01. 192-48) This invention relates to clutches and refers clutch member in the path of the driven memmore particularly to improvements in fluid her when deflected by the' action of centrifugal clutches. force at relatively high speeds of rotation.

Heretofore, it has been customary in clutches Further objects and advantages of my invenof the fluid flywheel type to rely on the fluid'cirn w l be apparent from the following detailed 5 culated between the driving and driven clutch description of several embodiments thereof, refvane members to establish the driving connection erence being had to the accompanying drawing, through the clutch at substantially all speeds of in which: operation thereof, and particularly at relatively Fig. 1 is a sectional elevational view of the lower high speeds of rotation. At low speeds a certain half of my clutch. i j

amount of slipping between the clutch members Fig. 2 is a detail view thereof partly in crow is ordinarily desirable in smoothly picking up section, the view being taken along the line 2-2 the load between the driving and driven clutch of Fig. 1. members, and the fluid clutch is of advantage 3 is a Sectional e at i y 8 Portion in permitting such slippage without wear usually of my utch vi a modified form of my in- 15 attendant to nore common forms of friction .yention as a part thereof.

. clutches. 7 Referring to the drawing, I have illustrated one Clutches of the aforesaid type may be used to f m f my inv n lonin 1,, this view r p advantage in transmitting power from a engine senting a sectional elevational view of the lower 0i 9. motor vehicle to a speed changing transhalf y f my cl h. it being: understood that 20 mission, by way of example, and wh so u it the upper half would be similar. This clutch A is apparent that much of the motor vehicle opadap ed to b driv n by theipr m mover 1' oration is 'mder conditions of direct drive through ngin hav n 'a d ivin h f fl- The clutch the clutch. consists of a driving structure B and a driven Y .My invention has; particular significance 1 structure C, these structures being provided with 5 connection with motor vehicle clutches of the w ki clutch members cooperating an aforesaid type, although notlimited thereto in-its m mb rs H and res tive T drivin broader aspects; one object thereof re idi n structure B is connected by suitable fasteners I3 the provision of means for drivingly connecting with th o n in driving Shaft "L d w t e x the clutch members-in addition'to the driving lus ated bod t, this driving uct e is 30 connection attended by th fluid ir ul t d b adapted to substantially house the driven structhe clutch. ture, the driving member I! rotatably receiving A further object of my invention resides in the an extended Portion of t i' v i' by provision of means for increasing the efliciency f bf a bearing l4 r i y h hub l5 s nof fluid type clutches or the like by causing ened t ii h the driven member 1 The gagement of the clutch members, engaging driving and driven structures are thus rotatable means, in the preferred embodiment of my i relative to each other and the driven hub I5 is tion, is limited to relatively high speeds of clutch i d t i to he pow take-01f or driven rotation and is preferably of a yielding or slip shaft II, the lat r av a w ly xtendi 40 ping character so that slippage of the l tch portion l8 freely piloted in the drive shaft I0. 40

members may take place, even at high speeds, The driving and driven members II and I2, such conditions being desirable in certain. inrespectively, are provided with cooperating fluid stances of operation of the motor vehicle or other conducting vanes l9 and 20, these being adapted mechanism embodying the clutch. on rotation of the driving member to cooperate In carrying out the objects of my invention, in the usual manner by guiding the fluid out- 45 I have provided means establishing a frictional wardly of the driving member and inwardly of engagement for the fluid clutch members, such' the driven member as the fluid is circulated unengagement being responsive to a predetermined der the influence of centrifugal force in estabe' speed of rotation of the driving or. driven clutch lishing the fluid drive in a manner well undermembers, preferably the latter. Thus, by, way stood in the art. v 50 of illustrating myinvention, I have'provided one The driving. structure B has an annular ,peor more shoes moved by centrifugal force to es-. ripheral portion 2| thereof connected by fastenwe the aforesaid frictional engagement. In ers 22 to the drivingvane member I I, the driven afurther illustrated form ofmyinvention,I have. member l2 having a peripheral portion 23 exprovided a friction surface carried by the driving tending annularly within the portion 2| of the o5 driving member and being positioned substantially adJacent thereto, whereby these portions cooperate to provide the aforesaid frictional engagement in response to a predetermined speed of rotation of one of the clutch members, preferably thedriven member l2.- This frictional en gagement is adapted to supplement the fluid drive provided by thevanes of the clutch members.

In Figs. 1 and 2 of my drawing, I have illustrated one form of providing the supplemental engaging means wherein the driven member I2 is provided with a circumferential series of outwardlyextending openings 24 in the peripheral portion 23 thereof, said openings each receiving a shoe or plunger element 25 normally urged inwardly by a spring 26, .the latter reacting on an abutment 21 threadedly engaging opening 24. This threadedengagement provides for adiustment of the tension of spring 26 in order to vary the rotational speed at which the centrifugal A force will cause outward movement of the shoes 25. These shoes extend outwardly through the abutments 21 into close proximity with the annular strip or vane of friction material 28, the

latter being connected to and carried by the peripheral portion 2| of the driving structure B. This annular vane 28 may be formed of usual friction material such as is commonly used for brake linings, clutch facings, and so forth.

The springs 26 normally urge the plungers 25 inwardly so as to slightly space the outward extremities of the plungers from the friction material 28, it being understood that when the driven structure C and clutch member l2 thereof are driven at a predetermined desired speedbe readily fixed without requiring any synchronization of the driving and driven members.

Other advantages will also be apparent from lily-disclosure. It will be noted that after. en-

gagement takes place between plungers 25 and the'band 28, an increase in the rotational speed of the driven member will serve to correspondingly increase the force applied by plungers 25, whereby the degree of this supplemental engagement is proportional to the rotational speed of the driven structure once the engagement .has been established at the predetermined speed, which might be termed the critical speed of rotation of the driven member.

Referring to Fig. 3,- I have illustrated a modifled form of. myinve'ntion in which the plungers 25 of Fig. 1 have been omitted, and in which the driven member is so arranged and supported as to cause deflection or distortion of a portion thereof from its normal shape under the influence of centrifugal force .in order to establish the supplemental frictional engagement. Inasmuch as the major portions of the clutch A shown in Fig. 3 are similar in general construction and operation to the corresponding parts shown in Fig. 1, I have indicated such parts of Fig.- 3 with the same reference numeralsas applied to Fig. 1, and such parts will not require further detailed description or explanation. In- Fig. 8, the annularperipheral portion 23' of thedriven clutch member [2 is adapted, in itself, to distort or de-v flect into engagement with the friction band 28, so as to cause the supplemental driving engagement-between the driving and driven structures B and C, respectively, of Fig. 3. In order to further assist in the deflection or distortion to cause the aforesaid supplemental engagement at the desired speed of rotation of the driven shaft l2, it will be noted that this driven member may, if desired, be supported by the fasteners It so that the center of mass 29 of the driven member overhangs the support in plane 30 in a direction longitudinally of the axis of rotation of the driven structure. In other words, the center of mass of the driven member is spaced axially of the said axis of rotation from' the support for the driven member, the centrifugal force thereby acting at the center of mass to bodily deflect or distort the' driven member from its normal shape, and thereby cause the peripheral portion 23 of the driven member to frictionally engage the band 28, the amount or degree of this engagement being in proportion to the speed of rotation of the driven member above the critical speed, as in the case of Fig. 1. v

If desired, the driven member C may have a facilitated, it being apparent that after suflicient distortion occurs to cause the supplemental engagement further distortion of the driven member is prevented by reason of the engagement with the driving structure B.

In Fig. 3 the center of .mass of the driven clutch member I2 is designated approximately at 29. It will be noted that the region of greatest bending stress in member i2 occurs approximately at the zone indicated at 3| so that as long as the center of mass 29 is located to the right of zone 3|, with the parts arranged as ilsuitable part or parts thereof deliberately weak-. ened so that the aforesaid distortion will be lustrated, the annular peripheral portion 23' will tend to be displaced toward the friction surface 28. permits a wide latitude in the location of the center of-mass.

In both illustrated embodiments of my invention the load is taken up by the fluid medium and the supplemental engagement comes in at a predetermined relatively high speed to substantially lock the clutch parts together.

While I have shown for the purpose of illustration several embodiments of my invention, I desire to point out that I do not limit my invention as defined by the appended claims to the particular combination and arrangement of parts described and illustrated since further forms will be apparent from the teachings of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a fluid clutch, driving and driven structures, each of said structures having fluid guiding vanes for establishing a drive therebetween. one of said structures being housed within the other, and means frictionally connecting said structures at a predetermined speed of rotation of one of said structures, said means including a friction surface carried by one of said structures and located in the path of the other of said structures when the latter is deflected from its normal shape under the influence of centrifugal force.

2. In a clutch of the fluid type, a driving structure, a driven structure adapted to receive the drive from the driving structure through .a fluid medium, one of said structures providing a hour-- in: for the other, and driving means supplement ing said fluid drive, said' means including an element slidably carried by one of said structures and moved outwardly of the axis of rotation thereof in response to centrifugal force fo engaging the other of said structures.

3. In a clutch of the fluid type. a driving structure, a driven structure adapted to receive the drive from the driving structure through a fluid medium, and driving means supplementing said 1 fluid drive, said means including a plunger slid-' ably carried byone of said structures'and moved in response to a predetermined speed of rotation thereof.

4. In a clutch of the fluid type, a driving structure, a driven structure adapted to receive the drive from the driving structure through a fluid medium, one of said structures having a portion thereof housing the other of said structures andspaced therefrom, and yielding driving means.

20 supplementing said fluid drive, said means including an element carried by one of said structures and moved in response to rotation thereof across said space into engagement with the other of said structures.

25 5. In a clutch of the fluid type. a driving structure, a driven structure adapted to. receive the drive from the driving structure through a fluid medium, one of said structures having a 7 portion thereof adapted for engagement with 30 the otherwhen the latter is deflected under the influence of centrifugal force.

6. In a clutch of the fluid type, a driving structure, a driven structureadapted to receive the drive from the driving structure through a fluid 35 medium, one of said structures having a portion thereof adapted to yieldingly move in response to rotation thereof, the other of said structures having a portion adapted for engagement with said flrst portion in response to distortion of said structure which has said yielding portion.' '1. In a fluid clutch, driving and driven mem-' bers, saidmembers having vanes cooperating 55 each other to provide fluid circulating es, one of said "members being bodily distorted inresponse to rotationthereof for engagement with the other.

10. In a clutch, driving and driven structures,

' driving and driven members respectively carried by said driving and 'drivenstructures, said menubers having cooperating fluid conducting vanes acting in response to rotation of said driving driving and driven members respectively carried 10 by said driving and driven structures, said members having cooperating fluid conducting vanes acting in response to rotation of said driving structure to establish a drive between said members, said driving structure having a peripheralportion thereof adapted .to house the outer portion of said driven member, and means responsive to a predetermined speed of rotation of said driving member for causing said driven member to frictionally en a e said peripheral portion of said I driving structure to supplement said fluid drive, sxid frictional engaging means including an annular band of friction material can'ied by said peripheral portion of said driving structure.

12. In a clutch of the fluid type, coaxial relatively rotatable driving and driven shafts, a mem-. ber drivingly mounted on each of said shafts, each of said members having a plurality of vanes adapted to provide fluid circulating passages for establishing a fluid drive between said members,

and'means for drivingly mounting one of said members on oneof said shafts with the center of mass thereof spaced axially and radially from said mounting whereby said member will be distorted from its normal shape to engage the other g of said members in response tocentrifugal force. 13. In a clutch ofthe fluid type, coaxiairelatively rotatable driven and driving shafts, a runner structure having a plurality of fluid conducting'passages, an impeller structure having a plu- 4o rality of fluid'conducting passages adapted to cooperate with said passages of the runner structure to provide a fluid drive between said structures, means for mounting said structures on said shafts respectively, said mounting means for one of. said structures being offset in the direction of the axis of rotation thereof from the center of mass of said structure whereby the latter will bodily distort in response to centrifugal force acting thereon, the other of said structures having a portion thereof normally free from contact with said distortable structure but adapted for engagement therewith at a predetermined speed of rotation of said distortable structure.

14. In a fluid coupling, driving and driven vane forming structures, one of said structures being housed within the other,- said inner structure having a substantially cup-shaped vane forming portion carrying a centrifugal force displaceable peripheral clutching. part adapted for frctional ,engagement with said outer housing structure.

ALEXANDER G. OFT. I 

